Barrel floating

[BeanMan]

I had always heard that a barrel should not touch the stock and should be free floated. I took apart my Ruger M77 and sanded away a small portion of the forend that was in contact with the barrel. Now my accuracy is worse off of the bench.

The question would be what do I do next?

Thanks,

BeanMan

 

[rost495]

Bean Man

You just changed the vibration pattern/node of the barrel. You can easily put that pressure point back in OR if you reload, just play with the load a bit. THeres an easy way to find a sweet spot of each gun if you reload.

If you want more info, email me at home and I"ll make time to explain it all in detail.

PS contacted Wiggys, deal in the works to test a bag out.

Jeff

 

[alsatian]

(1) collect each of the grains of wood which you sanded off the inside surface of your stock and then (2) glue each of the grains of wood back in place.

Just joking. Some rifles require a bit of fore end stock pressure to maximize their accuracy. Evidently your rifle is one of these. I suspect my Winchester Model 70 Classic Featherweight with a light sporter barrel in .243 is of this kind too. You could have a gunsmith fix this for you.

Alternately, you could construct a shim and put this between your gun stock and the barrel. I would think you could use several layers of credit card material to build up the thickness you need. At first, just put the shim in place without glueing. Shoot the gun. If this works, glue the shim in place and you are done.

Note that the pressure point may have been at a specific point along the barrel and not for a long distance. Maybe the pressure point contacted the barrel for 1/4" at a point 10 inches from the end of the barrel. You should probably place your shim in this same location and try to limit the contact footprint of your shim to something like that of the original pressure point.

Don't do anything permanent until you are well satisfied with the results. If you don't achieve satisfaction, consult a gun smith.

 

[Dsquared]

Look into glass bedding the recoil lug of the gun at a bare minimum.
But to be honest, I am afraid you have just entered into the relm of handloading. In my mind that is a good thing.
I recomend that you consult a couple handloading manuals, select a couple different bullets that fit your needs and develope a load that works in your gun.
Reduce from maximum load and work up in 0.3 gr steps in powder charge, 5 shells each, until the groups minimize. Once you find an initial sweet load, bracket that charge in 0.1 gr charge steps, and 10 shells each. You should be able to get the gun down below 1" at 100yds no sweat.
It is alot of fun, and builds confidence when you have to take a long shot.
DO NOT forget to clean your barrel of powder and copper fowling.
What caliber is your gun?

Good luck, Don
Everett, WA

 

[rost495]

Don

Ever tried the Audette method of load development? Using 10% case capacity for charge increases and often netting a sub moa group, IN a SWEET SPOT to boot, and often in shooting under 50 rounds to get there?

Its a sweet way to test with minimum expenditure and barrel loss.

Jeff